A method is known from EP 2 392 435 A2 for the manipulation of workpieces by means of cooperating manipulator arms which are controlled by at least one control device, particularly by means of a workpiece manipulation system, having the steps of the manually-guided moving of at least one first manipulator in at least one of its degrees of freedom, and the automated controlling of at least one second manipulator according to the manually-guided manipulator. The workpiece manipulation system in this case has at least two manipulator arms which cooperate to manipulate workpieces, and which are automatically controllable and/or programmable in three or more axes by means of at least one freely programmable control device, wherein at least one first manipulator arm is constructed for the purpose of manually-guided movement in at least one of its degrees of freedom, and the control device is constructed to automatically control at least one second manipulator arm accordingly to the manually-guided manipulator arm.